For an overview of the life and work of Fethullah Gülen, whose followers refer to him as "Hodja Efendi" (roughly, "honorable teacher"), his
Wikipedia entry seems a reasonable start. For a cautionary article, that paints the Gülen movement as a "trojan horse" for an Islamic movement aiming at world domination, consider a
December, 2007 article in the Australian journal Quadrant, by Father Paul Stenhouse.
I am not qualified to opine as to whether the people I have encountered in the Gülen movement have a hidden agenda of world domination. I'm not a political scholar, and I'm not a mind reader. That any Islamic movement should
aspire to convert the entire world to its particular faith does not disturb me. I'm a Christian. The scripture I study and seek to understand advocates that very thing in
Matthew 28:18-20. It is in the nature of any true faith that its adherents will want to share the good news their faith offers them.
The idea that the Gülen movement seeks to establish a
new "new world order," a new Caliphate, with Fethullah Gülen as the Caliph, strikes me as silly. Fethullah Gülen is 67 years old, and in poor health. I've been surprised by things before, and certainly with God everything is possible, but there are other Islamic movements that have been working on world revolution a lot longer than Gülen is likely to be around, and they haven't gotten nearly as far as did the Roman Catholic Church on trying to establish a world theocracy with one man at the helm. The kind of piling up treasures on earth that world-dominating religions do seems to corrupt their faith, and spur their downfall.
Sic semper tyrannis, dudes.
So, with the full knowledge that the Hodja Efendi might possibly be a wolf in sheep's clothing, bent on oppressing me and my kind through a ruthless and insidious program of educating poor children, reaching out to other faiths, and talking about tolerance, I will try to reflect on what I see.
All of the people associated with the movement that I've met so far have come "bearing gifts" of some sort:
- They brought food to a meal at my church (Ashure, "Noah's pudding").
- They opened charter schools to provide a quality secular education to poor kids in Los Angeles
- They created and operated a tour that opened up Turkish history and Turkish people to our delegation and many others like it, for interfaith dialogue that was truly open.
- They set up a charitable disaster relief organization.
- They co-sponsored a great lecture about interfaith relations at Seattle University.
- They held an awards banquet in Houston, and celebrated the accomplishments of non-Muslims who advanced the cause of interfaith relations there.
- They gathered at their place of business to discuss interfaith relations with our delegation. This included very busy people, like the Editor in Chief of Today's Zaman, who gave us over an hour in the middle of a weekday.
- They used their vacation time, from a job as a cameraman at a TV station, to be our delegation's tour videographer.
- They (parents, children, faculty) waited patiently for us to show up an hour late at their elementary school in Nigde, then had a celebration in our honor, then took us home with them, gave us tea and dessert, and talked with us about their lives, and their desire to love and tolerate those of different faiths.
Except for school faculty and some of the tour logistics staffers we met (who, like me, work for a "non-profit wage"), none of the people we met were paid to do this work. On the contrary, they were donating money, vacation time, and hard work because of their passion for their cause, and their desire to share themselves.
People slaving away in organizations built around a cult of personality tend to talk constantly about their leader. Everything I recall hearing about Fethullah Gülen on our tour was in response to our questions. The people we encountered talked about education, liberal democracy, civil society, peaceful resolution of conflict, science and technology, interfaith tolerance, history, and love. When we asked about motivation, or connections to the Fethullah Gülen movement, they talked about things that their Hodja Efendi had said or written. I don't recall them ever talking about miraculous accomplishments of their leader, what wonderful things would happen for me if I would just join them, or any of the other stuff one hears when meeting the adherents of a cult.
I'm sure that there are areas where I would disagree with the vast majority of people in the Gülen movement. I'm not a Muslim. In some ways, most notably sexuality, I don't meet their culturally/religiously defined standard of a "moral person." God made us different in many ways. I wouldn't presume to question God's wisdom in doing this. The Quran (
49:13) teaches that God intended for us to know one another, and transcend our differences in honor of our common devotion to God. Even though my hosts knew about my being a gay man (it's public knowledge, and I disclosed it to our tour leader for practical reasons relating to hotel accommodations), I didn't experience intolerance. Disagreements over particular faith practices and ethical issues related to purity don't keep me from loving Roman Catholics, many Baptists with whom I also disagree, and Muslims. I'm even happy to be in formal association with Baptists that disagree with me about the sinfulness/non-sinfulness of my sexual orientation, for purposes of mission. We live and worship in different communities, but can still have purposes and programs in common.
Everything I have seen so far, in Houston, in Seattle, and in Turkey, suggests a decentralized movement of people, forming associations for purposes of mission. Their mission includes education, tolerance, embracing modernity, and an easygoing kindness. Though I'm happy being in my own faith community, I have no problem with supporting their mission. My feeling is that the world is a better place for having the Fethullah Gülen movement active within it.
I received the gift of an expensive education in the history and polity of Turkey, and the gift of much heart-to-heart dialogue with some pretty amazing people. Nobody asked anything in return for this gift, but I want to do something. My plan is to tell the story of what I've learned, possibly as part of my own faith community's adult education program. I'll even try to develop graphics and study materials appropriate for adult "Sunday school," that might be used by other faith communities that are curious about the Gülen movement.
Meanwhile, because I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was very clear about what God's law requires of us (in
Matthew 22:37-39), I will pray for the success of the many mission efforts I saw and learned about, and for God's blessings on the Fethullah Gülen movement.
